14 killed in Israeli raids on Gaza

Fourteen Palestinians, including nine Hamas members and three children caught up in fierce gun battles, were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday during Israeli army raids on two refugee camps.

The raids came a day after an elaborately planned suicide bomb attack at Erez Crossing, the main checkpoint into Gaza, was foiled. Two Palestinian policeman and four fighters were killed and a suicide bomber was arrested en route to Jerusalem.

Apache helicopters and dozens of armoured military vehicles took part yesterday in what the Israel military said was a big anti-terrorist operation in the Bureij and Nusseirat camps in the central Gaza Strip.

About 1,500 people surged to the entrance of the Bureij camp as the vehicles arrived and Israeli snipers took positions.

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Troops were pelted with stones and petrol bombs by the crowd as anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades were fired.

The children reported killed were aged 10, 14 and 15. The Israelis say children are used to shield Palestinian gunmen and that young casualties are inevitable in such circumstances.

Palestinians accuse the Israelis of brutal, indiscriminate tactics designed to exact "collective punishment" for terrorist attacks. Some say children are deliberately targeted by soldiers, a charge vehemently denied by the Israelis.

The Palestinian cabinet condemned the pre-dawn raids as "state terror against our people" and the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad vowed to exact revenge.

Avi Pazner, an Israeli government spokesman, said Nusseirat camp had been used to mount attacks against Jewish settlers and Israeli forces. "Terrorism is pouring out of this refugee camp and we have to stop it," he said. "We believe that by [taking action] we have prevented acts of terror in Israel and saved many human lives."

More than 50,000 Palestinians joined funeral marches on Sunday. One masked man said: "The reaction of this crime will be very soon and we say to the Zionists that any restaurant or bus or bus stop may be a target of our heroic explosions."

Violence in Gaza has increased in recent weeks after Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, announced that he would dismantle all Jewish settlements there. Hamas, the dominant Palestinian force in the Strip, is determined to portray the withdrawal as a military victory against Israel.

Three Palestinian groups - Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, which they said was partly in response to an Israeli air raid near Gaza City on Thursday in which three Hamas leaders died. The attack had been meticulously planned with at least one Palestinian wearing an Israeli uniform.